^ 


b(  Early  American  Comedy 


By 
ELBRIDGE  COLBY 


^ 


^^ 


1 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC    LIBRARY 

1919 


Early  American  Comedy 


By 
ELBRIDGE  COLBY 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC    LIBRARY 

1919 


REPRINTED  AUGUST  1919 

FROM  THE 

BULLETIN  OF  THE   NEW  YORK   PUBLIC   LIBRARY 

OF  JULY    1919 


PRINTED  AT  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 
form  p-iso  Ivl  1  1-12-19  3c) 


EARLY    AMERICAN    COMEDY^ 

By    Elbridge   Colby 

THE  most  characteristic  thing  about  the  earliest  American  plays,  published 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  prior  to  the  Revolution,  was  that  they  were 
revolutionary.  It  was  the  same  in  all  other  departments  of  literature,  and 
the  conditions  naturally  applied  to  the  comic  side  of  the  drama.  Whatever 
the  reason  may  be,  it  seems  a  well  established  fact  in  the  history  of  all  litera- 
ture that  colonies  are  unable  to  develop  a  vigorous  and  characteristic  writing 
tradition.  The  political  bond  between  India  and  England  makes  the  Eastern 
Empire  look  to  London  for  guidance  in  art  and  letters  as  well  as  in  diplomacy, 
political  economy,  and  commerce.  New  currents  of  thought  produce  new 
literatures,  but  new  currents  of  thought  do  not  thrive  without  independence. 
Before  the  Revolution  and  for  some  time  afterwards,  American  publication 
was  almost  entirely  restricted  to  reprints  of  English  editions. 

The  first  American  plays  were  revolutionary,  for  they  had  found  a  new 
stimulating  idea,  a  thesis  of  military  enthusiasm  and  opposition.  Thus  we 
have  Brackenridge  writing  "The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill"  ( 1776)  and  the  "Death 
of  General  Montgomery"  (1777).  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren  depicts  the  Bostonian 
theme  of  revolution  in  "The  Group"  (1775),  "The  Blockheads"  (1776),  and 
"The  Motley  Assembly"  (1779).  She  was  the  daughter  of  James  Otis  and 
wife  of  General  James  Warren,  and  it  is  not  surprising  therefore  to  find  that 
"The  Blockheads"  is  a  flippant  farce,  replying  to  General  Burgoyne's  pro- 
duction, "The  Blockade."  The  connection  between  England  and  the  colonies 
was,  for  the  moment,  completely  broken.  Their  principles  were  in  opposition 
and  so  the  colonial  literature  was  free.  "Common  Sense,"  "The  Crisis,"  the 
verse  of  Philip  Freneau,  and  that  of  Trumbull  could  not  have  been  written 
earlier;  not  so  much  that  the  facts  did  not  demand  them,  but  because  the  former 
ideas  could  not  have  given  birth  to  such  prodigies.  The  play,  "The  Military 
Glory  of  Great  Britain,"  given  one  September  at  Princeton  (1762),  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Peacock's  drama  "The  Fall  of  British  Tyranny." 

But  once  the  fighting  was  past  and  independence  was  gained,  there  was  a 
reaction.  Commercial  houses  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  Charlestown  resumed  their  profitable  relations  with  British  merchants, 
and  likewise  theatrical  managers  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia.  Balti- 
more, and  Charlestown  looked  once  more  to  London  for  dramatic  traditions 


>  The  reader  is  referred  to  List  of  American   Dramas  in  The  New  York  Public   Library.     (Bulletin. 
Oct.,   1915,   vol.  19,  p.  739-786.     Also   issued  as  a   separate.) 

[3] 


2076397 


4  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

and  innovations.  Literature  is  very  much  a  matter  of  continuity  and  conven- 
tions; and  stage  literature  cannot  be  built  up  in  a  new  and  sparsely  populated 
country.  The  scattered  play-houses  of  the  young  United  States  were  com- 
pelled, therefore,  to  look  to  London  for  plays  and  for  inspiration.  Nor  is  it 
fantastic  thus  to  speak  of  the  tendency  of  the  American  drama  for,  prior 
to  1850,  there  was  nothing  which  could  properly  be  called  an  individual  note 
in  our  stage  productions.     We  were  dependent  upon  England. 

Aside  from  the  mere  fact  that  these  managers  were  really  dependent  upon 
England  for  the  canon  of  theatrical  literature  from  which  they  must  draw  in 
order  to  get  up  an  attractive  repertoire,  they  were  dependent  in  another  way, 
more  direct  and  more  determining.  The  crime  of  international  literary  piracy 
was  world-wide,  lack  of  decent  copyright  relations  put  the  American  publishers 
in  a  position  where  they  often  refused  to  pay  a  moderate  price  even  for  the 
American  book  which  they  knew  to  be  good,  because  they  could  secure  more 
cheaply  a  popular  English  book.  The  amount  it  cost  them  was  almost  noth- 
ing: the  payment  of  charges  on  a  postal  packet  and  a  small  fee  to  an  agent 
in  St.  Paul's  churchyard  who  made  a  business  of  such  traffic.  There  was 
a  short  and  exciting  race  to  see  which  New  York  or  Philadelphia  firm  could 
issue  a  volume  with  his  imprint  first;  then  the  book-market  in  the  States  saw 
another  contemporary  British  volume  taking  the  popular  fancy  and  discourag- 
ing local  production.  Wrote  Washington  Irving  to  a  novelist  across  the  water 
in  1829:  "If  you  can  furnish  me  with  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  earlier  part  of 
the  work,  and  supply  the  subsequent  in  sheets  as  struck  off,  so  as  to  give  some 
bookseller  in  America  the  decided  start  of  his  competitors,  I  think  it  highly 
probable  I  can  get  a  little  something  for  it  to  pay  you  for  your  trouble." 
Under  such  conditions  as  these,  William  Gilmore  Simms  was  told  by  his  pub- 
lishers: "We  do  not  see  much  hope  in  the  future  for  the  American  writer  of 
light  literature  —  as  a  matter  of  profit  it  might  be  abandoned."  The  wonder 
of  the  matter  is  that  a  Simms,  an  Irving,  a  Poe,  a  Cooper,  and  a  Neal,  managed 
to  succeed  at  all.  They  were  in  competition  with  acknowledged  'favorite  and 
popular  masters  whose  books  were  mailed  across  the  ocean  and  reproduced 
with  incredible  speed.  This  is  the  reason  that  a  distinctive  American  comedy 
was  slow  and  hesitating  about  showing  its  head.  It  had  to  face  competition 
with  tried  successes  from  London  and  had  to  cater  to  an  audience  fed  on  that 
type  of  drama.  Its  character  was  moulded  to  a  great  extent  by  the  character 
of  the  comedies  then  being  produced  in  New  York.  And  these  comedies  were 
English  comedies. 

Ten  plays  of  George  Colman,  Charles  Dibdin,  Thomas  Holcroft,  Mrs. 
Inchbald,   John   O'Keefe,    R.    B.    Sheridan,    the    English   adaptations    from 


EARLY  AMERICAN  COMEDY  5 

Kotzebiie,  and  other  pieces'which  went  well  in  London,  came  laughing  across 
the  Atlantic.  Then  there  was  the  rage  of  dramatization.  Fanny  Birney's 
"Evelina"  appeared  on  Boston  boards  as  "The  Poor  Lodger"  (1811);  'The 
Shepherdess  of  the  Alps"  waited  thirty-five  years  and  then  came  in  1815; 
Scott's  embattled  "Marmion"  fought  in  America  (1812);  Mrs.  Radcliffe's 
"Romance  of  the  Forest"  built  a  colonial  reputation  as  "Fountainville  Abbey" 
(1795). 

Perhaps,  though,  the  most  important  single  influence  in  bringing  this 
British  atmosphere  was  even  more  direct.  The  plays  came  not  so  much  in 
the  portmanteaus  of  publishers  as  on  the  lips  of  players.  Charles  Mathews, 
George  Frederick  Cooke,  Edmund  Kean,  Thomas  Cooper,  and  many  others 
came  to  push  their  fortunes  or  to  receive  applauding  homage  on  a  new  stage 
in  a  new  world.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  historic  successes  of  Covent  Garden 
and  the  Drury  Lane,  as  well  as  the  recent  innovations  there,  crowded  the  play- 
houses of  the  States.  There  were  theatres  in  New  York,  Boston,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  Fredericksburg,  and  Charlestown,  but  they  might  have  been 
called  Theatres-Royal  of  Liverpool,  Drury-Lane,  Covent-Garden,  or  the  Hay- 
Market,  instead  of  Chestnut  Street,  HoUiday  Street,  John  Street,  the  Lafayette, 
or  the  Park  Theatres,  for  all  the  difference  their  localities  made. 

A  bibliographical  study  of  any  of  the  English  playwrights  of  this  period, 
of  George  Colman,  Charles  Dibdin,  Thomas  Holcroft,  Mrs.  Inchbald,  John 
O'Keefe,  Prince  Hoare,  R.  B.  Sheridan,  will  show  editions  of  their  plays 
which  bear  on  their  quaint  title-pages  the  note:  "Printed:  London.  Re-printed: 
New  York."  Of  all  the  long  series  of  dramas  put  through  the  press  and 
"published  by  David  Longworth,  at  the  Dramatic  Repository,  Shakespeare- 
Gallery,  New  York,"  the  very  great  majority  are  English  plays  put  forth  in 
pirated  editions.  Thus  did  the  American  drama  exist,  amid  a  perfect  pande- 
monium of  English  plays  which  made  their  London  applause  so  great  that 
it  was  re-echoed  before  the  New  York  foot-lights.  Dunlap  tells  how  "The 
Abbe  de  I'Epee"  was  brought  over  in  1801  and  we  are  not  surprised;  but  we 
are  surprised  when  we  find  even  so  obscure  a  piece  as  "The  Deserted  Daughter" 
put  on  with  success  in  New  York.  Even  though  Britons  liked  it  not,  the  very 
London  hall-mark  was  guarantee  for  American  production.  There  was  one 
play  ordered  in  New  York  which  illustrates  this  influence  and  its  force,  says 
Weyelin,  "From  the  prejudice  then  existing  against  American  plays,  it  was 
announced  as  the  production  of  an  English  author,  received  with  unbounded 
applause  in  London." 

Thus  it  is  natural  that  the  American  comedies  of  the  period  between  the 
Revolution  and  the  Civil  War  fall  into  very  nearly  the  same  categories  as 


6  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

the  British  comedies  of  the  corresponding  years.  One  kind  of  wit  which 
gained  acceptance  in  London  was  a  ridiculous  representation  of  provincials, 
of  Irishmen  and  Scots,  simple  characters  with  such  wit  and  antics  and  plain 
honesty  as  Irishmen  and  Scots  seldom  had.  So  in  America  we  have  imitations 
of  these  in  "Rural  Felicity"  (1801)  by  John  Winchell,  "Kathleen  O'Neil;  or, 
A  Picture  of  Feudal  Times"  (1829?)  by  George  Pepper;  and  two  sprightly 
Hibernian  sketches  from  the  pen  of  James  Pilgrim,  just  before  the  guns  of 
Moultrie  turned  belligerent  thoughts  to  other  fields  of  endeavor. 

Another  type  which  took  the  London  audiences,  especially  after  the 
"School  for  Scandal"  had  set  the  pace,  was  what  might  be  called  the  drama 
of  sensibility,  the  old  sentimental  comedy  intermixed  with  a  certain  degree  of 
stilted  humor.  So  in  America  there  was  "The  Female  Patriot"  (1795)  by 
Mrs.  Rawson,  the  "School  for  Prodigals"  (1809)  by  Joseph  Hutton,  the  "Fox 
Chase"  (1808),  and  "The Trust"  (1808)  by  Charles  Breck,  "Tears  and  Smiles" 
(1808)  and  "How  to  Try  a  Lover"  (1811)  by  John  N.  Barker,  and  "The 
Sprightly  Widow"  (1803),  "He  Stoops  to  Conquer"  (1804)  and  "The  Merry 
Dames"  (1804)  by  John  Winshall.  The  regular  drama  in  England  showed 
the  contagious  influence  of  the  farce,  these  American  comedies  did  likewise. 
They  are  built  about  ingenious  situations,  and  the  characters  are  either  on 
the  one  hand  completely  subordinated  to  the  situations  or  on  the  other  hand 
exaggerated  in  caricatures. 

Two  other  influences  were  being  felt  in  England;  a  comic  opera  tendency 
illustrated  very  well  in  "The  Shepherdess  of  the  Alps"  (1780),  already  cited, 
and  in  "The  Noble  Peasant"  (1786);  and  a  tendency  toward  a  combination  of 
declamations  and  scenic  solemnity,  for  this  was  the  age  of  Kemble  and  Kean. 
So,  in  America,  we  find  three  plays  which  fit  very  well,  though  somewhat 
confusedly  into  that  part  of  English  drama  that  was  under  these  two  influences. 
Mrs.  Rawson's  "Slaves  in  Algiers;  or,  A  Struggle  for  Freedom"  (1794)  with 
songs  and  spectacles,  John  Hodgkinson's  "Robin  Hood;  or,  Sherwood  Forest" 
(1808),  and  Joseph  Hutton's  "The  Orphan  of  Prague"  (1810),  have  scarce 
a  line  in  them  that  is  distinctly  American,  and  they  might  as  well  have  been 
put  on  in  London. 

What  is  thus  seen,  in  a  dramatic  way,  of  this  transoceanic  similarity  in 
the  matter  of  managerial  selections  for  stage  production  is  additionally  demon- 
strated by  a  brief  scrutiny  of  the  activities  of  two  of  the  foremost  American 
playwrights  of  the  period.  William  Dunlap  and  John  Howard  Payne  had 
British  connections  in  an  actual,  physical,  as  well  as  in  a  literary  sense.  One 
of  the  most  distinct  characteristics  in  the  life  of  Dunlap  must  be  reckoned  his 
propensity  for  journeying  to  London,  attending  the  theatres  there,  adapting 


EARLY  AMERICAN  COMEDY  7 

English  plays,  keeping  in  close  touch  with  Holcroft,  Colman,  and  other  English 
writers,  bringing  over  promising  actors  like  Cooper  and  renowned  ones  like 
Kean,  changing  English  versions  of  continental  dramatists  like  "Pizarro" 
(1800),  "The  Voice  of  Nature"  (1803),  and  "Fraternal  Discord"  (1800). 
Two  of  Payne's  pieces  w^ere  produced  almost  simultaneously  in  London  and  in 
New  York,  "Accusation"  (1816)  and  "Adeline"  (1822);  and  his  first  attempt, 
written  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  "Julia;  or,  The  Wanderer"  (1806),  was  based 
upon  Mrs.  Inchbald's  and  Benjamin  Thompson's  translation  of  Kotzebue's 
"Lover's  Vows."  The  interrelation  was  obvious  and  evident  between  London 
and  New  York,  through  Dunlap. 

In  a  larger  sense  we  find  these  two  men  following  the  moods  and  fancies 
of  the  British  stage,  so  that  the  American  stage  likewise  had  its  Kotzebue  rage 
in  Dunlap's  "Pizarro"  (1800),  his  "Fraternal  Discord"  (1800),  and  in  Payne's 
"Julia;  or,  The  Wanderer"  ( 1806) ;  had  its  melodrama  in  Dunlap's  "The  Voice 
of  Nature"  ( 1803)  from  the  French,  and  in  Payne's  "The  Two  Galley  Slaves" 
(1823),  "AdeHne,  the  Victim  of  Seduction"  (1822),  "Ali  Pacha;  or,  The  Sig- 
net Ring"  (1823),  and  "Accusation"  (1816)  from  "La  Famille  d'Anglade"; 
had  its  comic  opera  on  the  English  model  in  Dunlap's  "The  Glory  of  Columbia" 
(1803),  and  in  Payne's  "Clari;  or,  The  Maid  of  Milan"  2  (1823);  had  its  own 
patriotic  spectacles  after  the  fashion  of  those  London  productions  which  cele- 
brated the  glorious  victories  of  Nelson,  in  Dunlap's  "Yankee  Chronology" 
(1811),  and  in  S.  B.  H.  Judah's  "A  Tale  of  Lexington"  (1823);  had  its  own 
local  musical  farce  in  the  anonymous  "Out  of  Place"  (1808);  had  its  replica 
of  the  farces  of  Foote  and  BickerstafiFe,  Colman,  and  Mrs.  Inchbald,  in  a 
type  which  may  be  represented  by  "A  Trip  to  Niagara"  (1829);  had  its  touch 
of  Orientalism,  which  Byron  and  Moore  popularized  in  both  Europe  and 
America,  and  balanced  the  spectacular  "Timour  the  Tartar"  of  Drury-Lane 
with  "Ali  Pacha;  or,  The  Signet  Ring  (1823)  by  Payne;  had  its  comedy  of 
sensibility  in  Dunlap's  "The  Father"  (1789),  "Darby's  Return"  (1791),  and 
"The  Italian  Father"  (1799).  The  correspondence  is  complete  and  almost 
exact.  America  not  only  imported  the  London  successes,  but  imitated  them 
with  its  right  hand  when  its  left  hand  was  trying  to  be  original. 

Though  we  may  show  similarities  in  the  comedy  of  sensibility  and  in 
the  Kotzebue  stampede  of  moral  dramas  of  domesticity,  perhaps  the  best 
example  of  this  intimate  connection  is  to  be  found  when  we  examine  the  great 
success  of  that  type  known  as  the  melodrama.  Within  one  year  of  the  appear- 
ance of  "A  Tale  of  Mystery"  from  Pixerecourt  on  the  Covent-Garden  boards, 
no  less  than  four  editions  of  the  London  version  stolen  from  France  were  in 
turn  stolen  from  England  and  on  sale  in  the  lx)okshops  of  New  York  and 


»  In  which  "Home,  Sweet  Home"  became  popular  and  famoua. 


8  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Boston.  The  revolutionary  simplification,  the  individual  morality,  the  poetic 
justice  of  this  genre  were  not  only  accepted  but  also  eagerly  followed  in 
America.  For  some  years  the  importations  from  England  held  the  stage,  and 
then  the  playwrights  of  the  United  States  tried  their  hand  at  the  same  thing, 
beginning  with  John  B.  Turnbull  and  his  "Rudolph;  or.  The  Robbers  of  Cala- 
bria" ( 1807)  "with  marches,  combats,  and  choruses."  Turnbull's  next  play  fits 
in  as  a  good  example  of  the  form:  "The  Wood  Demon;  or,  The  Clock  has 
Struck!  A  grand,  romantic,  cabalistic,  melodrama,  in  three  Acts:  unsurpassed 
with  Processions,  Pageants,  and  Pantomime"  (1808). 

It  may  be  well  to  examine  a  bit  into  this  novel  species  of  entertainment. 
A  comedy  dealing  with  ordinary  people  is  enriched  with  some  spectacle  in  the 
way  of  dances  and  decorations.  There  are  some  songs;  there  are  scenes  of 
high  passion;  but  most  important  of  all  is  the  use  of  music,  not  to  supplement, 
but  to  supersede,  the  words.  In  many  moments  of  intense  interest  the  char- 
acters do  not  speak  at  all;  they  merely  act,  as  the  music  changes  from  cheerful 
and  sweet  to  loud  and  raucous.  Notes  are  interpolated  throughout  the  printed 
play  to  indicate  where  characters  and  orchestra  should  shriek  together,  where 
the  music  expresses  confusion,  and  pain  of  thought,  and  dejection,  and  joy. 
This  mixture  of  dialogue  and  dumb  show  formed  the  melodrame  where  "the 
concord  of  sweet  sounds"  never  accompanied  the  words,  but  replaced  them  from 
time  to  time  as  a  better  means  of  interpreting  emotion.  It  was  not  sentiment. 
It  was  not  Sheridanism.  It  was  romantic,  a  conscience  yielding  to  the  past 
and  struggling  with  the  future.  It  embodies  the  sweet  simplicity  of  Words- 
worth and  the  extravagant  coloring  of  Byron.  Such  was  the  melodratne  which, 
after  certain  changes,  has  become  our  modern  melodrama.  The  stage  was 
believed  to  be  a  very  efficient  school  of  morality.  "The  Evil  Eye"  (1831 )  by 
James  B.  Phillipps.  no  less  than  "Nellie,  the  Beautiful  Cloak  Model";  "The 
Mountain  Torrent"  (1820)  by  S.  B.  H.  Judah,  no  less  than  "The  Fatal  Wed- 
ding," were  melodramas,  though  they  were  also  by  the  chance  of  circumstance, 
included  in  the  type  of  melodrame.  The  hero  is  poor  but  honest;  the  heroine 
of  the  whitest  white;  the  villain  of  the  blackest  shade;  and  the  cause  of  the 
villain  is  always  in  the  ascendant  until  the  last  act,  when  he  goes  straight  to 
hell  —  and  the  gallery  gods  rejoice  at  his  fall. 

This  is  the  main  outline  of  the  class  of  play  applauded  at  Drury-Lane 
which  also  held  the  stage  in  New  York,  but  there  was  in  it  a  very  definite 
tendency.  It  was  the  age  of  romanticism,  of  interest  in  scenes  and  people 
remote  from  humdrum  circumstances  and  situations.  The  novels  of  Scott 
were  frequently  dramatized  in  London  into  melodramatic  melodrames;  so  also 
"The  Red  Rover"  (1828),  "The  Last  of  the  Mohicans"  (1849),  and  "Paul 


EARLY  AMERICAN  COMEDY 


9 


Jones;  or,  The  Pilot  of  German  Ocean"^  (1828)  in  New  York.  The  Ameri- 
can local  appeal  of  these  Cooper  tales  was  of  course  some  reason  for  their 
success.  But  the  romantic  drama  placed  in  picturesque  and  remote  scenes 
was  just  as  well  received.  It  was  after  the  British  manner  that  the  anonymous 
author  of  'The  Sultana;  or,  A  trip  to  Turkey"  (1822)  follows  Byron's  "Don 
Juan"  and  quotes  from  Thomas  Moore's  "The  Lighthouse";  that  William 
Barrymore  used  improved  scenic  devices  and  settings  in  "The  Snow  Storm;  or, 
Lowina  of  Tobolskow"  ( 1818) ;  that  J.  Stokes  followed  "Mark"  Lewis's  device 
of  a  bleeding  nun  in  "The  Forest  of  Rosenwald;  or,  The  Travellers  Benighted" 
(1820);  that  S.  B.  H.  Judah  combined  music  with  Spanish  scenery  in  "The 
Rose  of  Arragon"  ( 1822) ;  that  W.  G.  Hyer  emphasized  romance  pure  but  not 
simple  in  "Rosa"  ( 1822) ;  that  M.  M.  Noah  combined  some  of  the  new  decora- 
tive romanticism  with  something  of  the  old  tale  of  terror  elements  as  they  were 
even  then  seeing  combined  in  England,  when  he  produced  "The  Wandering 
Boys;  or.  The  Castle  of  Olival  (1812);  and  "The  Fortress  of  Sorrento" 
(1808).  On  both  sides  of  the  water  the  castles  of  Italy,  the  Gothic  forests  of 
Germany,  the  lattices  of  sunny  Spain,  the  gorgeous  costumes  of  the  Levant,  and 
the  corsairs  of  the  beautiful  blue  Mediterranean  had  an  appeal  that  amounted 
almost  to  a  clear  call  to  follow  fantastic  legendary,  and  distant  half-lights. 

If  the  predominating  characteristic  of  these  plays  between  1800  and  1850 
was  that  they  were  not  characteristically  American  at  all,  the  reason  is  per- 
haps to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  their  writers  were  usually  professional  men 
of  letters  like  Longfellow,  whose  "Spanish  Student"  (1843)  and  Irving  whose 
"Bracebridge  Hall"  (1822)  showed  a  closer  literary  union  with  the  bookish 
traditions  of  Europe  than  with  their  fellow  townsmen  in  the  small  cities  of 
the  States.  Dunlap  and  Payne,  already  mentioned,  are  good  examples,  Samuel 
H.  Chapman,  author  of  "Red  Rover"  (1828),  was  an  actor.  M.  M.  Noah 
was  editor,  critic,  and  author  as  well  as  a  playwright,  yet  there  began  to 
creep  into  their  work  some  connection  with  American  scenes  and  traditions. 
"Red  Rover"  was  never  far  from  the  three-mile  limit.  Samuel  Woodworth's 
"Lafayette;  or,  The  Castle  of  Olmuntz"  (1824),  John  N.  Barker's  "The  Indian 
Princes"  (1808),  founded  on  Smith's  "Virginia,"  Simms'  "Benedict  Arnold" 
(1863),  G.  W.  Parke  Curtis's  "Pocahontas;  or,  The  Settlers  of  Virginia" 
(1830),  nor  for  that  matter  Robert  Dale  Owen's  unacted  "Pocahontas" 
(1837)  could  scarcely  be  said  to  deal  with  matters  far  remote  from  American 

thought. 

These  years  just  at  the  turn  of  the  half  century  begin  to  mark  a  great 
change  in  all  American  literature.    It  is  commencing  to  be  American.    Cooper 

~  sTlTis  last  by  W.  H.  Wallack.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  another  play  on  the  same  subject  was 
taken  by  W.  Berger  in  1839  not  from  Cooper,  but  from  Dumas. 


10  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

had  written  of  Indians  and  of  Revolutionists  in  the  spirit  of  Scott.  Hawthorne 
in  "The  Scarlet  Letter"  (1850)  and  in  the  "Mosses  from  the  Old  Manse" 
(1846),  Mrs.  Stowe  in  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  (1852),  R.  T.  S.  Lowell  in  "The 
New  Priest  of  Conception  Bay"  (1858),  Theodore  Winthrop  in  "John  Brent" 
(1861)  and  "Cecil  Dreeme"  (1861),  —  these  developed  what  has  come  to 
be  known  as  the  "novel  of  locality"  and  paved  the  way  for  Mark  Twain  and 
Bret  Harte  and  O.  Henry,  and  we  cannot  count  how  many  more.  The  United 
States  was  in  a  fair  way  to  develop  a  literature  of  its  own. 

Following  Irving's  pioneer  efforts  came  John  Kerr  with  "Rip  Van 
Winkle;  or,  The  Demons  of  the  Catskill  Mountains"  ( 1830) ;  came  Simms  with 
the  unacted  and  unactable  "Norman  Maurice;  or.  The  Man  of  the  People" 
(1851);  came  George  Jones  with  "Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet  of  the  West" 
(1844);  came  A.  C.  O.  M.  Ritchie  with  "Fashion;  or,  Life  in  New  York" 
(1850);  came  James  Pilgrim  with  "The  Female  Highwayman"  (1852)  and 
"The  Buccaneer  of  the  Gulf"  (1852);  came  H.  S.  Conway  with  "Dred,  a  Tale 
of  Dismal  Swamp"  ( 1856) ;  came  Thomas  Dunn  English  with  "The  Mormons; 
or,  Life  at  Salt  Lake  City"  (1858);  came  Halleck's  "Mr.  Mead"  with  "Wall 
Street;  or,  Ten  Minutes  Before  Three"  (1840)  a  farce  preferable  to  Athenian 
dramas,  as  Halleck  said;  came  finally  the  most  definite  dramatic  localization 
of  all  —  American  urban  and  rural  life  —  at  the  hands  of  J.  B,  Howe  in  "The 
Woman  of  the  World"  (1858).  We  have  at  the  last  a  definitely  American 
dramatist  in  Joseph  Stevens  Jones  who  dramatized  "Captain  Kyd"  (1858?), 
"Moll  Pitcher;  or.  The  Fortune  Teller  of  Lynn"  (1855),  "Solon  Shingle;  or. 
The  People's  Lawyer"  (1850),  and  "The  Usurper;  or,  Americans  in  Tripoli" 
(1842). 

Just  as  the  long  period  of  commercial  and  national  unification  was  about 
to  be  broken  abruptly  by  the  guns  of  the  Civil  War,  two  gentlemen  who  were 
not  distinctly  American  in  the  entirety  of  their  lives  contributed  some  of 
the  most  distinctly  American  dramas  that  are  to  be  found  in  all  our  period. 
John  Brougham,  while  in  the  States,  did  a  large  variety  of  things.  He  put 
"David  Copperfield"  and  "Dombey  and  Son"  on  the  stage.  He  produced 
three  rather  London-like  comedies,  "The  Game  of  Life,"  "The  Game  of  Love," 
and  "Flies  in  the  Web."  He  constructed  two  traditional  melodramas,  "The 
Gunmaker  of  Moscow"  (1856)  and  "The  Red  Mask;  or.  The  Wolf  of  Lithu- 
ania" ( 1856) .  But,  in  spite  of  these  tendencies,  we  cannot  forget  that  he  dram- 
atized "Dred;  or,  The  Dismal  Swamp"  (1856),  nor  —  and  this  is  much  more 
important  —  that  he  wrote  a  thoroughly  typical  local  comedy  "The  Lottery 
of  Life,  a  Story  of  New  York"  (1860).  And  Dion  Boucicault  is  another 
similar  example.    Mr.  Chesterton  has  remarked  that  the  most  important  thing 


EARLY  AMERICAN  COMEDY  n 

about  Rossetti  has  been  said  when  we  have  written  his  name,  —  an  Italian 
in  England.  But  the  same  cannot  with  justice  be  said  of  Boucicault.  "The 
Phantom"  (1856),  "The  Poor  of  New  York"  (1857),  and  "The  Octoroon; 
or,  Life  in  Louisiana"  (1861),  are  as  thoroughly  American  as  the  most  vigor- 
ous local  feeling  could  require. 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  we  have  seen  how  the  American  comedy  com- 
menced life  tied  to  the  apron  strings  of  a  tiresome  type  of  English  drama,  how 
during  the  Revolution  there  was  violent  and  somewhat  petulant  attack  upon 
the  dominating  nursemaid,  and  how  close  relations  were  once  more  established, 
not  to  be  broken  until  a  slow  adolescence  gave  place  to  an  awakening  maturity. 
American  comedy,  for  want  of  mature  experience  and  sensible  intuition,  fol- 
lowed English  comedy  into  the  Kotzebue  fracas,  obediently  adopted  the  enormi- 
ties of  the  melodrame  and  the  romantic  melodrama,  and  grew  to  advanced  age 
with  little  strength  or  individuality.  Copyright  relations  and  personal  affec- 
tion for  English  dramatists,  as  well  as  the  usual  deterrent  circumstances,  com- 
bined to  efifect  a  state  of  affairs  where  one  scarcely  now  reads  American 
comedies  of  this  period.  To  do  it  requires  courage,  patience,  and  a  sense  of 
humor.  In  many  cases  it  might  be  well  to  follow  Dr.  Johnson's  advice  and 
refrain  from  reading  before  writing  a  review  of  these  comedies,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  unpleasant  effects  of  prejudice  resulting  from  personal  dislike. 

Yet,  eventually,  there  did  emerge  a  localized  American  comedy.  Under 
the  influence  of  historical  pride,  abolitionist  agitation,  of  westward  progress, 
of  growing  commercial  strength,  and  of  the  success  of  the  new  "novel  of 
locality,"  there. finally  emerged,  in  the  decade  preceding  the  Civil  War,  a  dis- 
tinct tendency  towards  a  comedy  with  scenes,  characters,  and  manners  distinctly 
American,  as  opposed  to  the  scenes,  characters,  and  manners  distinctly  British 
in  origin  which  had  formerly  been  paraded  before  the  footlights  of  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Boston, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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